DCG Success Stories

Former Derby College business studies student Libbi Myers is enjoying great success with her new venture, The Fuddle Box Co, which she created during lockdown.

But the entrepreneurial 21-year-old, says she wouldn’t have been able to go into business without the help she received while studying at the Roundhouse.

Libbi, who has Asperger’s, said the support she received from staff on her level 3 course – as well as learning in an open, airy building with plenty of natural light – helped her reach her potential.

Initially it was recommended that Libbi start on level 2 as she’d had issues with attendance in the past.

She said: “Asperger’s doesn’t affect me intellectually – I got good GCSE grades at school – but I do struggle with the social side of learning.

My lecturer, Lorna wanted to give me the chance to prove myself and suggested that I did level 2 for a couple of weeks and, if that went ok, I could move on to level 3.

Lorna gave me the motivation I needed and without her I wouldn’t be where I am today, running my own business.”

Libbi, who co-owns the Bean Café in Friar Gate Studios with her dad, came up with the idea of creating a picnic in a box, while at home during lockdown.

She bought a selection of sweet and savoury picnic favourites, then put photos of the “fuddle” boxes on Instagram to promote them.

In her first weekend of trading, at the end of May, she received 30 orders, with numbers reaching a capacity of 80 on the weekend of Father’s Day in June.

Libbi added: “So many of the business skills I use every day were acquired on my course at Derby College. I learned so much about marketing and finance, and taking the course also gave me the confidence to start a business.”